Pi Day on which we had pies

[sabotabby]

1. Computer fixed, I think.

2. We held a belated Pi Day at the Eyrie. I was having a shitastic weekend so I wasn't the greatest hostess, but oh well.

This is what a Pi Day looks like:


Pies
Mock mutton pie: sabotabby
Ethiopian red lentil pi-pie: curgoth
Joy!Pie and Woe!Pie: culpster
Leek tart: neeuqdrazil
Berry tart: zingerella
Chocolate cashew butter pie: captainmushroom
Vegan pecan ice cream pie: mycrazyhair

Not pie (and not pictured) but we love you anyway
Risotto: northbard and tormenta
Sexy salad: R.




I used the recipe mycrazyhair did here. I followed her directions but, as suggested, added more carrots, and used white flour instead of whole wheat for some inexplicable reason. It turned out really well.


curgoth's flaming pie. Here's the recipe.


Pie of Joy, Pie of Woe. You'll have to ask culpster for the recipe. Recipe here.


Leek tart, which was bled for. Recipe here.


Chocolate cashew butter pie. Recipe:

Chocolate Cashew Butter Pie

Filling:
2 boxes (10.5 oz each) silken tofu
12 oz bittersweet chocolate (about 2 cups, crushed)
5 tablespoons brown sugar (I suggest using more, as my pie wasn't quite sweet enough)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup roasted cashew butter

Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted vegan butter
2 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. water
pinch of salt

Filling: Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Put tofu in a blender and add the melted chocolate. Blend until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla, then blend again.

Crust: Combine ingredients and mix well. Press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Pre-bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 F.

Assembly: Soften cashew butter (heat for 1/2 to 1 minute in microwave) and gently spread onto bottom of pie shell. Pour tofu mixture into shell and chill.

This recipe is a slight modification of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie recipe found in Vegan Freegan (2002), which was attributed to Renee Wheeler. It was yummy, and the chocolate-tofu topping would make a great vegan chocolate pudding all on its own.


mycrazyhair presents: Vegan ice cream pie. Recipe here..


Last but not least, berry pie! Recipe to come.

All in all, Pi Day was a great success. Also I drank a lot.

Comments

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear about your 'puter.

Are things generally better?

[sabotabby]

Eh, things are up and down. I'm in a slightly better mood, but there have been Issues of various sorts. But I've been handling them better.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Plus: pie.

I've been brainstorming SF ideas in jordansc's baby talk post.

[sabotabby]

I love this!

My current plotbunny has to do with the reported ancient Mayan belief that it was human sacrifice, and human sacrifice alone, that kept the sun burning. (So, in fact, they were sacrificing a few people to save the world.) I want to write a story where that is an accurate depiction of the cosmos.

[chailash.livejournal.com]

I'm in love with the looks of that leek tart.

And I certainly hope that wasn't your only bottle of wine for pi day.

[neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com]

It was very tasty.

Recipe:

Take a box of phyllo pastry out of the freezer and set aside to thaw.

Trim 10 leeks, removing the stem end and most of the dark green leafy ends - leaving all of the white and a couple of inches of the lighter green.

Cut them in half lengthways, and then chop into half-moons, around 1cm wide.

Don't chop off the tip of your thumb in the process.

Dump all of these leeks (There will be a lot) into a large bowl, and fill with cold water. Swish the leeks thoroughly - you want to get rid of all of the sand. Lift out the leeks, leaving the water (and sand) in the bowl. Drain well.

In a large pot, heat a combination of olive oil and Earth Balance or butter over medium-low heat. When it's liquid, dump in the drained leeks. Stir to coat all the leeks in the oil, then put a lid on it and walk away. Come back to stir occasionally, until they're really well softened.

Pour in a good glug of dry sherry, or white wine, or vegetable broth, and keep on the heat until it mostly evaporates. Season well with salt and pepper. Take leek mixture off heat. Turn on your oven to 350 or so.

Melt a stick of butter (or earth balance) in the microwave, and get out a springform pan (or a regular round cake pan, but the springform makes it prettier.) Butter the bottom and sides of your pan very well.

Take your phyllo out of the package, and lay it on a clean, damp teatowel, covering it either with the end (if your towel is large enough to cover the whole thing), or a second clean, damp, teatowel. Phyllo dries out ridiculously quickly, so you want to keep it moist while you're working with it.

Start layering your phyllo, one sheet at a time, with the ends of the sheets hanging over the edges of the pan. Put down a sheet, butter it (gently - this stuff will break if you look at it wrong, but don't worry if it does. You'll be putting lots more sheets on top,) and then lay down another sheet, butter, and continue, always brushing with butter after each sheet. Lay down around 10 sheets (at least, that's what I did, using an 8" round springform pan, with sheets large enough to cover the whole thing. You want to overlap the sheets, so you don't end up with a rectangle with open sides, but a circle with ragged edges.

When you've got a solid base, fill with the slightly cooled leek mixture. Decide it's boring as-is, and grate on some fresh parmesan. Coax the ends of the sheets of phyllo over the filling, leaving them a little ragged and sticky-uppy - this is how you get the really nice, crisp phyllo that's so much fun to cut the inside of your mouth with. Also, it makes it really pretty. You should end up with a package that fills your baking vessel, whatever it is, and with all of the filling covered with the phyllo. If it's not, layer some more fresh sheets of phyllo on top, again brushing with butter between each.

Butter the top of your package, and sprinkle on some more parmesan.

Toss in the oven for a while, until the phyllo is golden. Pull it out, let it rest for a while, and then unmold it (if you're using a springform pan), and serve.

[sabotabby]

The leek tart was fabu. And no, I think I managed to polish off a bottle all by myself.

Re: belated Pi day

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

That's okay, some ancient (or not so ancient) civilization must have had Pi=3.3

Re: belated Pi day

[sabotabby]

Ah, our calendar is slightly wrong anyway.

Re: belated Pi day

[shelestel.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the arbitrariness in choosing a first month :).

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

damn, i was gonna go but don't know how to cook anything

[captainmushroom.livejournal.com]

That's why it's better to try "New Recipe Sunday" than "No Recipe Sunday," which is also a fun approach... if higher risk.

[sabotabby]

Aww, you should have come anyway. There was extra pie.

[mycrazyhair.livejournal.com]

The vegan ice cream pie is insanely silly.

Take one vegan chocolate pie crust (bought at the grocery store). (In the alternative, you could buy oreo cookie crumbs, and make a pie shell with a vegan margarine like earth balance, instead of using butter as described on the back of the box.)

Take one carton vegan praline pecan ice cream. Leave out of fridge until it's kind of gooey. Mix with 2 Tsp creme de cacoa. Mix and pour into crust.

Cover with a layer of pecans. Freeze.

Take 1/4 cup soy milk, and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat. Add 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (no milk products) and mix until melted. Add 2 Tbp maple syrup; mix. Let cool to room temperature. Pour over frozen pie.

Done.

I think next time I would wait until right before I want to serve the pie to add the ganache on top.

[sabotabby]

It was soooo good.

[culpster.livejournal.com]

OK here it is:

MEDFOUNA
(Moroccan Berber Pizza)

DOUGH:
In a small bowl combine

1 package yeast
1/4 c warm water
1 tsp sugar

Let stand until mixture bubbles, 10-15 minutes.
Mix:

5 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

make a well and add yeast mix along with:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg (easy to replace if you're CONSIDERATE)

first mix with spoon then knead for 8-10 minutes, gradually adding:

1 to 1 1/2 cups water

'until the dough leaves the side of the bowl' (don't overdo the water though!)

Separate into 2 balls (or 4 if you don't have a proper pizza pan), cover with cloth and let rise for 1 hour.

FILLING:

In large skillet heat:

2 tbsp olive oil

add:
8 green onions with tops, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bell pepper, seeded & diced

cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add:

12 pitted-minced green olives
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp thyme
s & p to taste (actually I think I left em out)

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out pizza dough the way one does. Lay it out dough-filling-dough so it's like a double decker pizza with the filling in the middle OK. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 375 and bake until crust is golden (says 20-25 minutes but mine was ready in another 10).

Thanks, lots of good food and fun!

[sabotabby]

Thanks for coming. And bringing pie!

[captainmushroom.livejournal.com]

Cutest. Pies. Ever.